From fans to players and coaches, there are superstitions in many sports – but it seems ice hockey takes it to greater heights.
Superstitions in our game even take on a theological identity for some: “The Hockey Gods.” Like Gordie Howe snaps his fingers and a puck takes the exact right bounce off the boards, or Jacques Plante wills a goaltender to make a save they shouldn’t have.
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Maybe it has something to do with the out-of-control nature of the game; a way of explaining the otherwise unexplainable bounces of the puck or why a certain player scores on a particular occasion. It could be we’re all nuts for falling in love with this sport.
Regardless, there’s an aura around the game – at least for some of us – that the players of yesterday are still with us today. They’re part of the ice, part of the blades, part of the puck and part of the sweater.
The sweater.
Ted Green
No. 6 is an interesting number in the Boston Bruins’ storied past. It’s the only single-digit skater’s number (not No. 1) that hasn’t been retired and it’s one that’s been worn by 28 different players since 1950.
After Bronco Horvath, a member of “The Uke Line” with Johnny Bucyk and Vic Stasiuk, wore No. 6 from 1958 to 1961, Ted Green took the honor. He is arguably the best Bruin to make it his trademark, doing so from 1961 to 1972.
Green established himself as an important part of the Bruins’ core during the Bobby Orr era. In 621 games in a B’s sweater, the 5-foot-10, 200-pound defenseman registered 48 goals, recorded a total of 902 shots on goal, and 206 assists.
While remaining a member of the team, Green was out injured for the entirety of the 1969-70 season, when Bobby Orr’s flying goal won the Bruins the Stanley Cup. He went on to win the Cup with Boston in 1972.
Gord Kluzak & Joe Thornton
Gord Kluzak – a recognizable name by multiple generations, having worn No. 6 from 1983 to 1991 and then appearing as a color commentator and an analyst for the B’s from 1995 to 2015, the 1982 first-overall pick was a Bruin during his entire seven-season stay in the NHL, retiring at the age of 26.
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He laced up his skates 299 times for Boston, notching 25 goals and 98 assists. He won the Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy for exhibiting qualities of perseverance and sportsmanship during the 1989-90 season.
Joe Thornton wore No. 6 for a few seasons before making the switch to 19 – a neat rookie card to have.
Most Bruins fans are familiar with the Thornton saga: after registering just seven points in his 55-game rookie season, the 1997 first-overall pick grew into a player Boston could build around. However, the Bruins traded him to the San Jose Sharks during the 2005-06 season when, split between both teams, he totalled 125 points with 96 assists – the best in the league in both categories.
He went on to play 1,714 games in the NHL with 430 goals, 1,109 assists and 1,539 points. Thornton remains one of the best and most deserving players to never win a Stanley Cup.
The Other Guys
Then, there’s a bunch of other guys who did: Vic Lynn (1951-1952), Gus Kyle (1952), Warren Godfrey (1953-1955), Buddy Boone (1957), Dick Redmond (1979-1982), and Glen Featherstone (1992-1994) – yes, these are real names.
Other than Green, Horvath, Kluzak and Darryl Ederstrand (1974-1978) no Bruin has worn No. 6 for longer than three seasons.
In the 10 years after Thornton switched to double-digits, No. 6 was worn by Gord Murphy (2002), Dan McGillis (2003-04), Brad Stuart (2006-07) and Dennis Wideman (2007-2010).
It was not worn when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011. Since then, Greg Zanon (2012), Wade Redden (2013), Corey Potter (2014), Colin Miller (2017) and Mike Reilly (2021-2023) have donned the jersey number.
It’s worth mentioning that Reilly had a solid outing as a Bruin, working his way into an important starting role and proving to be reliable amongst Boston’s injury spells on the blue line during his tenure. During the 2022-23 season, Reilly was sent down to the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Providence Bruins. He was picked up by the Florida Panthers on July 1 and played two games with the team before becoming a New York Islander, for whom he’s played three games this season.
Mason Lohrei
Mason Lohrei is wearing the number this season, though he was sent down to Providence in November. While the 22-year-old has shown promise in his 10 games this season, scoring a goal and three assists, he just hasn’t proven to be NHL-ready, at least in the eyes of head coach Jim Montgomery.
Lohrei, for now, remains on the bubble as a prospect acting as an eighth defenseman who could be called up if the Bruins see another injury plague on the back end.
It feels as though The Hockey Gods simply don’t favor Boston’s No. 6. It’s been 50 years since Green made it his trademark and, over the past 100 years, the popular number has not been worn by anyone seemingly worthy enough to forever stitch their name to it in the TD Garden rafters.
